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@Aya
You're right - there was one year when the turducken was moist, but that took a heck of a lot of work to get it that way.

Short version:
The problem: chicken is inside duck is inside turkey. Chicken needs to cook to 145, duck is better at 125, turkey needs to be 145.

Solution:
1. Bone out chicken, stuff, wrap in cheesecloth, poach until 145.
2. Bone out duck. Stuff with cooked chicken. Wrap in cheesecloth, poach until 125.
3. bone out turkey, stuff with duck stuffed with chicken, sew up, roast in low oven until 145. Remove from oven and rest
4. Roast in hot oven until brown and crisp.
5. Carve and serve.

See? Pain in the butt.

@KevinB

The problem with the stuffing is that even if you precook it, juices from the turkey drip into it while the turkey is roasting, so you still need to get it to come up to at least 145 before you can pull the turkey out, which means taking the turkey a little higher.

Of course, as always, if you've been doing something for years and are happy with the results, then that's all that matters! It's a heck of a lot easier than all this rigmarole I put my bird through anyway...

@allot

In lasagna recipes that call for ricotta, I almost always substitute cottage cheese that I process in the food processor to a more ricotta-like texture. Doesn't break as easily, tangier, more flavorful.

But if you go with ricotta, as others have said, eggs are essential to keeping it from breaking.

For watery tomato sauce, it could just be your tomato sauce is too watery to begin with. Does she cook it down?

It might also be that she is overcooking the lasagna noodles before assembling the dish. If the noodles are overcooked, they won't absorb any excess moisture, so it'll all just pool up in the dish. Have you tried any recipes that call for no-precook noodles? I think they give you a better final texture.

@finsbigfan

Hey - just take the MARSCAPONE and spread some of it on your BRUSH-ETTA!

@Tombolo - you could also just go with the second approach, making the breast "log," and serving turkey rilletes or crisp turkey confit on the side.

@michele humes

Really? Are there other examples in the French language where a double L makes an "L" sound instead of a "Y" sound? Can't remember any of the few years i took in high school. Anyhow, it's the extra "n" that really gets me - like the extra "L" in chipotle.

And yes, mayo and aioli are different things. That was my point! Chefs are often too chicken to write "mayo" on the menu, so they use aioli instead because it sounds fancier.

@Tressa - Wow! Those "normal" birds look better treated than any that I've seen. They get to hang out outside all day?

Was that label meant to go with that photo, or are those some kind of heritage bird as well? Most of the standard turkeys I've seen are white, kept in tiny barns, and usually missing a lot of their feathers (especially on their breasts, since they drag on the ground).

I do also have to disagree with your assessment that heritage birds have more fat. Neither supermarket turkeys nor heritage turkeys have much fat at all. Heritage birds do have darker meat, on the other hand, and more flavorful meat. Their breasts may look skinny, but the flavor is a lot more concentrated.

We did a tasting of a dozen or so heritage birds at Cook's a couple years ago. Some of them were great. I wish I could remember now which one I liked best, but unfortunately I can't recall...

Last year I had a fantastic turkey from Tom Biggs of Four Corners Farm in Rupert, VT. Highly recommended!

Kenji

@skinnyfatty

Look at the response in the original post.

Sorry, this is going the opposite direction from your request, but a quick rant. Speakeasy's: Getting mighty sick of'em. Particularly in NY/Brooklyn. I went on a pub crawl down Washington in Crown Heights/Prospect Heights that took us to Weather-Up (or something like that). As soon as we stepped foot in the unmarked door and saw the throng of hipsters and mustachio'd, vested bartenders, I couldn't help but roll my eyes and give a "damn - not another one" under my breath.

The difference is that now that it's down to a formula, the new places don't even try that hard. Sure, it looked like all the prototypes (many of which are great), but the bartenders weren't that fantastic, and the service left something to be desired (as in, the bartenders were joking around, throwing stuff at each other, and generally not acting as a speakeasy bartender should, I.E., well-trained, respectful, and attentive).

There's room for more, but only if they are as good as they should be, and not just another bar with a speakeasy shellac.

@mdeatherage: no need to take me any more seriously than the next serious eater... (p.s., that mashed potato recipe is Dave Pazmiño's, not mine!)

One yolk can easily emulsify a full two cups. There's actually enough lecithin in an egg yolk that once you have a stable emulsion started, as long as your ratio of water to oil is correct, you can make a huge quantity of mayonnaise with a single yolk. I've done as much as two quarts, and I've heard you can do more (this is just hearsay, but I believe that most commercial mayo manufacturers do way more than that in order to keep down the cost of the most expensive ingredient: the egg yolk). The key is to add oil until it looks like it's about to break, then add water to fix the ratio. Just alternate back and forth and you can keep going until your food processor is full (or your whisk-hand has fallen off).

@mdeatherage

Actually, hellman's doesn't even contain chemical stabilizers (unless you count the lecithin in egg yolks). There's some EDTA in there, which is what prevents it from oxidizing (the main problem with homemade mayo, and why Hellman's lasts longer than homemade), but that's a preservative, not a stibilizer. As far as mass-produced products go, Hellman's is way up there on the "purity" scale with Häagen-Dazs!

And I'm with you - I almost always have some form of homemade mayo in the fridge (be it mayo, aioli, or burger "sauce"). Countless uses for the stuff. Actually, I just used some mayo today because I ran out of eggs halfway through breading a batch of chicken cutlets. A little mayo/mustard/flour batter works great as the "sticky" layer in breading.

@lemonfair

without the proper (read: expensive) lab equipment that finewinedine was talking about, it's tough to gauge the actual intake of salt. But the finished bird certainly tastes much saltier than an unbrined bird. I would guess that for at least the outer layers of the turkey, the salt content is pretty close to, or a little less than what you have in the brine (because there are other dissolved solids in the turkey). Maybe 4-5% for the first half centimeter of meat or so would be my guess. But that's all it is - a guess, so take it with a grain of salt (or a drop of brine).

For plastic garbage bags, eek - I should know this, huh? I guess I can't really answer either of your questions. But I think you're right - to be safe, you should probably use oven bags, which are specifically designed to be food safe.

Marmitmight work in a veggie burger. I haven't explored them too thoroughly yet, but in my mind, I'd like a veggie burger to taste of vegetables, and not try to imitate meat. That said, some marmite may well give it a slightly more savory flavor to stand up to the normal accompaniments that go with a burger. It's definitely worth a shot.

Kenji

@meat guy

wow - that's interesting to know re: butterballs . I guess the name used to make sense!

I'm working on a recipe for a turkey burger right now, and adding hydrolyzed veg protein and yeast extract are definitely on my list of tests. It's amazine what a difference a little yeast extract can make in the meatiness of your finished dish. It works great in stews and sauces as well (you can buy it in the international aisle - Vegemite or Marmite)

@Trilby
you can do it in a large vessel in the fridge, or in a double layer of oven bags or garbage bags (set them inside a roasting pan to catch any leaks).

You can also brine your turkeys in a cooler out of the fridge. Just add enough ice packs to keep it cool through the night. Ice packs work better than ice cubes because they won't dilute the brine as they melt.

@meat guy

I think some manufacturers do inject oil into the breasts (I've never heard of hydrogenated oil or margarine though), but butterballs don't. It's just a brine:

These are the ingredients from their website:

Ingredients: Turkey, Water, Salt, Modified Food Starch, Sodium Phosphates, Natural Flavorings.

As for a cooked chuck roast, I think it's more than just the fat - it's the conversion of the collagen in its copious connective tissue into gelatin that keeps it well-lubricated in your mouth. That conversion takes temperatures of at least 160 degrees, and plenty of time to take place. I think the statement that "fat makes things juicy" is a pretty common misconception, though I haven't yet done any rigorous tests to prove it. But I've certainly eaten larded meats that are dry, and well marbled steaks that are dry, and fatty salmon that is dry. If something is overcooked, all the fat in the world won't save it - unless, like a chuck roast or a pork butt or a short rib, there is plenty of connective tissue to make gelatin and lubricate the dried-out muscle.